


When Shadows Bloom

by KieraElieson



Series: 100 G/t [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, Fae & Fairies, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, G/T, Gen, fairy deals and name magic, threat of killing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 10,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26351044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KieraElieson/pseuds/KieraElieson
Summary: Virgil has dark magic. Or must. Certainly all the normal magic won't work for him. He can't even find a familiar. Until he finally manages to make a deal with a fairy named Logan. Logan won't be his familiar, but he'll still hang around and be his teacher. And that's plenty enough for Virgil.Roman wants to be a knight! To wipe all the darkness and evil from the land! To save the poor people under oppression! And his first rescue is a fairy named Patton.But perhaps things aren't as simple as they think.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: 100 G/t [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1876741
Comments: 86
Kudos: 116





	1. Wings

Logan patiently waved his wings back and forth. He’d been caught in the rain, and now he needed to get dry before he could return home. 

Suddenly something pinched his wingtips closed. Logan jolted, unable to turn around. He turned his head, but he couldn’t see anything. He was picked up by his wings, and cried out. It didn’t hurt badly, but it certainly was uncomfortable. He was turned around, and his feet touched a surface, though could still see nothing. 

Then suddenly a human appeared. The human had him held by his wings with one hand, with his other hand cupped beneath him for Logan to stand on. 

“What is the meaning of this?!” Logan said angrily, in a feeble hope that the human could be intimidated. 

The human child winced. “Sorry. I wanted to ask you something, and I thought you’d run away if I just said something.”

Logan crossed his arms. “Let go of my wings this instant. I will hear you, though it is very possible that I will not answer favorably.”

The human let go of his wings. Logan tried a few quick flaps, but they still weren’t ready to fly. 

“Sorry. I, um… well, my mom has magic, and, she has a cat that does magic sometimes.”

Logan nodded. “A familiar yes. I believe your mother would be classified as a witch. It is likely the reason why you were able to take me by surprise.”

The child nodded. “But, I’m not very good at magic yet. I can only do a few things. But you’re a fairy! And, I was wondering if you could teach me? You could be my familiar, and I’d take care of you, and you can teach me magic.”

“I absolutely object to becoming your familiar,” Logan said sternly. 

The child’s face fell. 

“However, under certain conditions, I would not object to becoming your teacher.”

“Does that mean you will teach me?”

“Yes. Provided you pay me.”

The child frowned. “I don’t have very much money.”

“I’m a fairy, I have no need of money. I would accept your name, as a starting payment.”

The child’s face lit up. “It’s Virgil.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Virgil.” Logan said. “You may address me as Teacher, for the moment. I look forward to our relationship.”

Virgil smiled brightly. 


	2. Laughter

Virgil laughed as the bright soap bubbles floated above his head. 

“Now,” Logan instructed. “Draw one towards you, without breaking it.”

Virgil reached out a hand, and instantly every bubble popped. He looked at Logan anxiously, as if he expected to be scolded. 

“They are just bubbles. It is practice.” Logan guided a bit of breeze through the wand, creating more bubbles. “Try again.”

After a long time, with just as little success, Logan frowned, sitting down on the windowsill. “Perhaps we are going about this the wrong way. Clearly, you have magic, yet the ways in which humans learn do not seem to work for you.”

Logan guided another breeze to make a new set of bubbles. “You may take a break. Enjoy popping the bubbles while I think.”

Soon Virgil was chasing the bubbles through the yard, jumping up to hit them, and laughing pleasantly whenever he succeeded. He seemed in quite a good mood today. 

Logan frowned. Almost none of his teaching had worked. He’d taught many fairies before, and never with such poor results. Virgil had been a learning curve for him, since humans learned so differently, but he had thought that he could manage, until it continually failed. 

He let out a sigh. He needed a short break as well. Constantly taxing his mind wouldn’t make it work any better. 

Instead, he made more and more bubbles, allowing himself a smile at Virgil’s antics. He had to make quite a few, since the wind kept blowing them just too high for Virgil to reach. 

And then it struck him. Perhaps it was something about Virgil himself. Something that caused nature itself to be stubbornly set against him. It would perhaps explain Virgil’s failed search for a familiar, which was still ongoing, and had brought many close calls. 

“Virgil, come here please.” 

Virgil jolted at the use of his name, coming immediately. 

“You’ve mentioned that there are some types of magic that you can do, would you demonstrate those for me?”

Virgil looked down at his feet. “Mama said not to.”

Logan frowned slightly. “She did? Do you know why?”

Virgil whispered. “Cause people aren’t supposed to know that she’s a witch, even though she’s a good one. But I’m not, and she said that it’s dangerous.”

Logan pondered this. “Are you saying that you naturally excel in dark magic?”

Virgil nodded solemnly. “But it’s a secret.”

“That is an impossibility. I have never once heard of a human mastering any form of dark magic naturally.”

Virgil ducked his head down in an embarrassed shrug. 

Logan flitted up to sit on top of Virgil’s head. “Take me to the forest, please.”

“What are we gonna do there?” Virgil asked, already heading out of the yard. 

“We will practice further.”

Once they were well within the forest, Logan moved to sit on a branch. “I would like to see your magic, Virgil.”

Virgil frowned, wringing his hands together as he struggled to resist the pull from his name. “But Mama said not to…”

“Virgil, there is no one out here to harm you, and no one for you to harm except for me, which I do not believe you will do. Show me your magic.”

Virgil plopped down on the ground, his eyes shut tight and his face screwed up. “Fine, but let go first.”

Logan sighed. “You are released from the command, Virgil.” He felt a twinge of guilt. Virgil was a child, after all, by all rights he should never have experienced name magic, much less have to fight against it. 

Virgil let out a long breath, slumping forward. Then he sat up, with his eyes closed, and held out a hand. 

The shadow of the tree Logan was sitting on stretched out, and then separated from the tree, winding into a soft, dense ball. The ball rolled, or perhaps floated, along the ground and into Virgil’s hand. 

Virgil’s eyes opened, and glistened with fond affection. He petted the shadowball, cooing soft nonsense to it. 

“This is not dark magic,” Logan said bluntly. “Many humans believe it to be, because of the many,” he pinched the bridge of his nose. “There are many restrictions for Shadow Mages. Many other elements firmly refuse to cooperate. And it frequently  _ looks _ dark, since it is primarily shadows.” 

Logan sighed. Training a Shadow Mage had a host more problems than merely teaching a magic-sensitive human. What had he gotten himself into?


	3. Web

Patton had been thoughtless. He’d been flitting around without a care, enjoying the garden while the humans weren’t watching. And then he had gotten himself stuck in a web. 

Patton jerked and pulled, thrashing around. It didn’t do any good. He let out a sob. If it could trap him, it must be an awfully big spider. He squirmed and struggled, and tears started falling off the end of his nose. 

“I don’t want to die!” Patton sobbed. “Somebody help me! Please!” 

The web shook from something other than him, and Patton turned to see a spider staring at him. 

He let out a terrified scream. 

The spider got closer, and started crawling all over him, winding the web tighter around him. 

Patton screamed and sobbed, begging someone, anyone to save him. 

He had almost given up when suddenly there was a human child in front of him, whispering, “Are you a fairy?” In an awed voice. 

“Help me, help me please!” Patton begged, his voice quiet and almost gone from all the screaming before. “Please, I’ll do anything, just get me free.”

The child reached out and wrapped fingers around him, pulling him free from the web. Patton started crying again from the relief. 

“Are you really a fairy?”

Patton nodded. 

The child ran inside, trying not to shake Patton too hard. He set Patton down on a table and pulled most of the webbing off of him. The child grimaced at his hands and walked away, probably to wash them. 

Patton scrubbed at his face and cleaned the rest of the webbing off, shuddering at the icky feeling. 

The child came back, carrying a small plate, well, small for a human, and a cup. 

“I got you some honey,” the child said, setting the plate down. “I heard that fairies like honey. And some tea, but it’s cold, cause mom made it a while ago.”

Patton looked down at the honey. It looked and smelled delicious, but he didn’t have anything to eat it with. “Thank you. For saving me. Thank you so much! Um, can I, would you let me have a petal from one of your roses?”

The child’s head cocked to one side. “I’ll get one!”

He was back in moments. Patton tore off a piece of the petal and dipped it in the honey before eating it. It was delicious! The honey was amazing, and the child certainly knew how to pick a good petal. 

“Does that mean you like it?” The boy asked, looking at Patton’s wings, which were shivering and fluttering as the honey made his whole body feel light and energetic again. 

“I do! I really like it! Thank you!” Patton flew up and hugged the child, through the most he could reach at one was one cheek. 

The boy laughed. “I’m glad you like it. Do you think you can stay?”

“If you want me to. At least until the grownups come back.”

“Yay! Can you really do magic?” 

“I sure can! Wanna see?”

“Yes!”

Patton flew outside, and the child ran after him. Patton sat down on a flower bud. “Watch this, it’s my favorite!” 

He petted the bud, softly encouraging, and was rewarded by a slow swelling, and a soft opening of the flower. 

He turned around, smiling wide. “See?” 

The boy jumped up and down. “That’s amazing! Can you do other things too?”

“I can do a lot of things! Most of them are plant things, but I can do a lot!”

Patton grew to love the child, even over the short time of a single afternoon, and the next day, when the adults had left, he returned. And then the next, and the next. The boy always had honey to share with him, and Patton learned that his name was Roman. Roman wanted to grow up and be a knight, and go on grand adventures. Patton fully encouraged this. 

“You’ll be the best knight in the whole kingdom!”

“And you’ll come with me!”

“Of course I will, kiddo.”


	4. Razor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Several years later

Patton shifted his grip on his sword. It wasn’t a very good sword. Despite his magic and Roman’s craftsmanship it was little better than a shard of a razor with a handle. 

Patton also wasn’t very confident that he could use it. He thought that it was more likely that he’d end up hurting himself, or even Roman, before he actually managed to stab someone else. Not that he really wanted to do that either. 

He was thrilled to accompany Roman on his quests! Less thrilled to do the helping when Roman reached the object of the quest. 

He was standing on Roman’s shoulder, though he had to keep fluttering his wings to keep his balance, especially since Roman was ducking and squeezing around the thick undergrowth. 

Finally they made it to an itty bitty clearing, and saw that on the other side there was a path. In the middle of the clearing was a shack, and the shack was smothered in shadows, despite it being mid afternoon. Even without the shadows, there had to be loads of magic just holding the shack up. 

Patton felt the tiniest twinge of pity for the witch they’d been sent to kill. Even if they were evil, if this was where they lived then they were kind of pitiful too. 

“Come out, witch!” Roman shouted, unsheathing his sword. 

Patton flew up a bit higher, just above the range of Roman’s sword, and sat on a branch. He’d help if he could, but until then, Roman could get very… energetic with the sword, and Patton didn’t want to worry about one of his wings getting cut. 

But no one came out of the hut. Roman went and banged the door open. Patton winced as the whole structure shook. He flew down to look inside, but it was empty. 

“Do you think he moved?” Patton asked. 

Roman shook his head. He touched a cup that was left on the table (which was just as rickety as the shack).

“No, this is still warm. He’s been here a few minutes ago. Darn it! I’ll bet he ran right off when I called him out!” Roman jabbed his sword into the floor, which was just dirt. 

“We can wait for him to come back,” Patton said encouragingly. “If he lives here, he has to come back sometime.”

“To  _ this  _ shack?” Roman scoffed. “Just as likely to build a new one.”

“We can still try,” Patton said, patting Roman’s head. 

Roman’s face twisted as he debated. He plopped down on the ground. “Fine. We’ll wait.”

Patton smiled brightly. “We’ll get him, I know we will.”

Roman grumbled. 

Patton flew directly in front of his face. “You know how I know?”

Roman knew. It never failed to make him blush ever since he turned fifteen, which is a large part of why Patton continued to say it. 

“It’s because you’re the best knight in the whole kingdom.”

Roman looked away, but a smile was tugging at his lips and even in the dim shack Patton could see the blush dusted over his cheeks. 

Patton then flew around the shack. It was tiny, and rickety, and dark, but it seemed to be made mostly out of wood. He put his hand against some of the poor old branches, coaxing them gently. Some were just dead, but some he coaxed into setting down roots, and growing up branches. He grew them up stronger, and guided the new branches to twine around the dead wood and hold it in place. It was nighttime before he was done, but the shack had straightened up, firmed up massively, and now had a bright green top of dense leaves. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to post yesterday, so you get two today!


	5. Threaten

And now Patton was bored. Fairies didn’t sleep nearly as much as humans did, or on the same schedule, so while Roman was beginning to nod off, Patton was wide awake with nothing to do. He flew down to sit on Roman’s head, idly braiding strands of hair. It kept Roman awake a bit longer, but eventually he fell asleep, even though he was sitting up. 

Nothing happened for another hour, but then Patton heard a shuffling sound. He looked around, wondering if there was a mouse somewhere in the house. Suddenly a fairy appeared right in front of him, flying towards him at full speed. Patton barely got a squeak out before there was a hand covering his mouth, and another pulling him into the air by his shirt, and then shoving him against the wall.

“Don’t make a sound,” the other fairy warned. 

Patton should’ve thought of his sword, but he didn’t until the fairy had tossed it away from him. 

“You grew your plants around my human,” the fairy said, his voice quiet to avoid waking Roman, but not any less threatening. “Remove them immediately.”

Patton squirmed and struggled, pushing back against the fairy. “Get off,” he said, though he kept his voice down to a whisper too. “I don’t know about any other humans, but that one’s mine, and I didn’t grow the plants around him. Well, I guess the house counts as around him, but he can get up once he’s awake.”

“Not that blundering idiot,” the fairy snapped. 

Patton scowled. 

“My human is over there. Show yourself, please.” The fairy’s voice softened considerably for the last sentence.

In the corner appeared a human. He was covered in roots that Patton hadn’t even been able to see before. The human was dressed all in black, and even before the roots grew all through his clothes they would have been ragged. He was so close to Roman he could have tapped him with his foot. 

“Is your human the witch?” Patton asked. 

The fairy turned back to him so quickly Patton darted away, worried he might try to hit him. “He is  _ not  _ a witch, no matter what anyone might say!”

Patton crossed his arms. “Then why do the townspeople hate him so much?”

“Because they’re idiots, like most humans.”

Patton frowned again. “Even if they were, that isn’t enough to hire someone to kill someone.”

“Isn’t it? You ride around with someone who kills as his vocation, and you do not know that?”

Patton’s frown deeped. “He doesn’t just kill for no reason, he does it to protect people!”

“And who does this protect?” the fairy snapped, gesturing angrily at his human. His voice was loud enough to wake Roman. 

The human let out a soft, “Logan!” and vanished. 

The fairy grabbed Patton. He must have had a tiny knife or something also, because Patton felt something sharp press at his throat. 

“Get out of here, human, or I’ll hurt your fairy!” 

Roman blinked, and turned to look, the bleariness vanishing quickly. “W-what?”

“I said get out! Leave and don’t come back.”

“If I leave, you won’t hurt him,” Roman said, already slowly getting up.

“I won’t hurt him. Leave. Now.”

Roman moved slowly towards the door. “I’ll wait for you.”

Patton didn’t dare nod, but he gave a quick thumbs up. 

Roman walked out, and Patton could hear him walking away. 

“Virgil, quick!”

The fairy let go of Patton, and the darkness of the whole shack rose up to meet him, swaddling around him like a thick blanket. He couldn’t see, and he couldn’t move.


	6. Tremors

That was when the tremors started. Patton didn’t like the dark. It wasn’t nearly as bad a fear as his fear of spiders, but normally even in the dark there was still the moon and the stars, and now there wasn’t. And he couldn’t move. 

“Let me out. Please.” His voice came out very small, and it still cracked. 

The shadows melted away. Patton was left shaking on the ground. Tears dripped out of his eyes. 

“I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, are you hurt?” Virgil asked, and he sounded genuine. 

Patton shook his head. “Can I go?”

Logan and Virgil exchanged a glance. 

“Yeah,” Virgil said. “I’m sorry. Do you need any help?”

Patton shook his head. He was shaking so badly he could barely get in the air, but he did it, and flew out of the shack and straight to Roman. 

Roman was waiting. He caught him and held him to his chest. 

“Sunshine, you’re shaking. What did they do to you?”

Patton just gripped tight to Roman’s shirt. He didn’t want to talk right now. Roman stroked a thumb over his head. 

Roman carried Patton to a small clearing, and then laid down. Patton was still holding tight to his shirt, but the shaking had stopped. 

“I’ve got you, Sunshine. We’ll go deal with it in the morning.”

“Thank you.”

  * •^*^••



Roman left Patton outside. Whatever the witch did to him, he wasn’t giving him a chance to do it again. 

He stalked into the hut. The witch was still stuck fast with the roots covering him, though a small section had been cut. When Roman walked in, the fairy darted up out of reach. 

Roman drew his sword. 

“No, nonono wait, please!” The witch cringed back into the corner. “I didn’t hurt anybody. I never hurt anyone!”

“You hurt Patton,” Roman growled. 

“I didn’t! He said he wasn’t hurt. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”

“He was shaking. He could barely talk.”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry. You don’t have to kill me for it!”

Roman frowned. 

“I-if you let me go I’ll give him my name.”

“No!” The fairy exploded. “You can’t do that!”

“He wants to kill me,” the witch protested, and the stark fear in his voice cut through much of Roman’s anger. 

“Everyone wants to kill you, you can’t just go giving your name out!” The fairy scolded. 

“I’ll accept the deal,” Roman said. “But you have to give your name first.”

The witch nodded. 

Roman opened the door. “Patton?” 

Patton sprung up from where he’d been tending a flower. “Yeah?”

“I made a deal with the witch. He’s going to give you his name, and then we let him go.”

Patton cocked his head to the side in surprise, but came inside the hut. 

“You’re going to give me your name?” Patton asked. 

The other fairy bristled, practically vibrating with anger. 

The witch nodded. “My name is Virgil. Let me go. Please.”

Patton moved back, settling on Roman’s shoulder, looking as if he’d only just then had a revelation. Then he flew to the wall, and soon the roots were shriveling, and drying up. Roman caught him as soon as he was done. Drying up plants took a lot more energy from Patton. 

“Alright, get out,” Roman said gruffly. “If I see you again anywhere near here I won’t let you go.” 

Virgil dipped his head in a quick nod, and scrambled out of the hut. Roman didn’t see or hear him walk away. 

“Are you alright, Patton?”

Patton looked up at him, his face uncharacteristically thoughtful. “Have you ever wondered… if maybe we’re doing the wrong thing?”


	7. Stuck

They were off to slay a dragon! And Roman seemed very happy about it. For the first time, though, Patton wasn’t so sure that he was happy. 

At least this one really seemed like a dangerous dragon. The poor town had so many burned down houses. 

However, they now had the most chancy bit of the job to do. Finding the dragon. If they managed to find it, and sneak up on it, that was good. But if it found them looking for it before they realized, that could be very dangerous, and it was also possible that they wouldn’t find it at all. 

But at least they had a direction, and a mountain that it probably lived on. 

“This job may take a little longer than most,” Roman said. “With it being a smaller dragon, and with a whole mountain to search, we might not find it.”

Patton gave a sympathetic hum. “Do you think it has a cave, or a nest above ground?”

“Most of the firey ones have caves, but you never really know for sure.”

Unfortunately, the mountain was rather far away, and the silence between them wasn't as comfortable as it usually was. 

"Patton, are you alright?" Roman asked suddenly, turning to look at Patton, his face full of concern. "Did those fiends hurt you somehow? I wouldn't be upset at you for hiding it, but please tell me."

Patton curled in on himself. "No, they didn't hurt me. I promise. They scared me pretty bad, but..." He chewed on his lip. "We scared them too. Virgil thought we were going to kill him for no reason."

Roman reached up for him, and Patton landed in his hands. "Darling, they were hurting townspeople. That's why we were called. I'm glad that we managed to stop anyone from being hurt, but we couldn't have left those townspeople hurting."

Patton nodded, frowning. "But... what if the townspeople were lying?"

"Why would they lie about that?"

Patton shrugged. "If, well, I think Virgil's a Shadow, um, Shadowy magic person? They have a special name. But if he is, then that might be why he looked kinda creepy, and... and he had the darkness magic."

Roman nodded.

"And people don't like the Shadow Magic people. You know how lots of people think I'm just silly cause I'm a flower fairy? And some of them tried to catch me?"

A ghost of a frown crossed Roman's face, but he nodded.

"Well, people think that Shadow people are bad and scary. Even if they don't do bad things. I just... what if that's what happened?"

Roman frowned in consideration. It was several minutes before he answered. "Then I'm glad that we made a peaceful deal with them. But what's bothering you now? Surely you aren't upset only that we scared them?"

Patton shook his head. "I just wondering... If we were wrong about them, how many others might we be wrong about?"

Roman nodded slowly. "Well, to start, we weren't wrong about all of them. That wizard definitely was kidnapping those girls, and the one town really had a haunted bog, and we dealt with a few guards that one time who were definitely abusing their power. But, that being said, there have been some things that I wondered about."

Patton nodded, glad that Roman was understanding him so quickly. 

"I don't think we can do anything about the past," Roman said. "But I would certainly agree to be more careful in the future. We'll start with this dragon. We'll find it, and watch it for a while. We don't know for sure that it caught those houses on fire, and we definitely don't know why. Would that be a good start?"

Patton nodded. "And some dragons talk. If this one does, then we can talk to it!"

"Well, only once we're sure it won't try to torch us," Roman countered. 

The road they were following passed through a belt of trees, and as they were walking, suddenly Roman's feet were jerked out from under him, and the two of them let out startled screams. Roman was hanging by a rope tied around his feet, and looped up high in a tree. In the jerking, Patton got one of his wings a bit crushed, and he held on tightly to Roman's thumb to avoid falling. Roman twisted to reach his sword, but the movement made it slide out of its scabbard and fall to the ground.

A man stepped out from behind a tree, smirking at them. "Are you stuck?"

  
  



	8. Cling

Patton could immediately see that the man had a glamour on, and that, almost more than the man stepping forward and reaching out to him, made him extremely worried. He clung tighter to Roman’s hand, as he wasn’t certain that he’d be able to fly if he tried.

“We are stuck.” Roman said, only barely keeping his composure. “Would you be so kind as to help us down?”

The man reached out towards Patton, and Roman cupped both his hands around him, holding him safe and close. The man looked displeased, but retracted his hand. 

“May I ask who you are?” He said smoothly.

“My name is Sir Roman. Please help me down.” Roman said. His tone was clipped, and Patton knew he was moments away from calling the creepy man things like fiend and oaf. 

The man’s smirk didn’t leave his face. “I suppose then that you’re the one who was sent to kill me? What did you need to drag a poor little garden fairy into it for?” He grabbed Roman’s hands, and tried to pry them apart. 

“Let go, you cur!” Roman snarled, trying to pull away from him and find some way of getting down.

“I chose to stay with him!” Patton said indignantly, holding tight to Roman. “Please let us down, we don’t want to hurt you unless you did something bad.”

The man clicked his tongue, and a curl of smoke escaped from his mouth. “What if I did do something bad?”

“You’re the dragon,” Roman said, struggling again to get down. 

Patton looked at Roman’s face, which was getting quite red. Being upside down for so long wasn’t good.

The man just looked pleased. “So I am.”

Patton took a few more seconds of thought, and then climbed over Roman’s fingers. He fluttered his wings as hard as he could, ignoring the wrong feelings from his crumpled one, and tumbled to the ground. He ran as soon as he could, towards the tree. 

“Ah, ah, ah, little fairy,” the man said, stepping in front of him and picking him up in the air by his wingtips.

“No!” Roman bellowed, twisting all around in the air and flinging his arms out trying to grab or punch the man. “Release him, fiend!”

Patton felt a shard of fear pierce his chest. He tried very hard to keep his voice steady. “Please let me down.”

The man clucked sympathetically. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. You’ll go free your knight, won’t you?”

“He won’t.” Roman said immediately. “Put him down.”

The man raised an eyebrow curiously and Patton nodded slightly. His eyes were starting to tear up, despite his best efforts to stay strong. 

The man sat down, placing Patton on the ground. Patton backed away from him several steps. 

The man looked at Roman. “You are oddly both exactly as I expected, and not at all as I would have guessed.”

  
  



	9. Separate

“Can you let Roman down? Please?” Patton asked, calming down, but only a little.

“When you’re in danger of your life, releasing your enemy is rarely wise,” the man replied. 

“Then what, you’re just gonna stare at me until the sun sets?” Roman asked.

The man shrugged. “Honestly speaking, I hadn’t expected to get this far. I’m just seeing where this takes me.”

Patton wasn’t sure what to do, but first he probably ought to tend to his wing. He carefully smoothed out the wrinkles and straightened it, patting extra dust around the creases. He gave a little flutter as a test, and while he could feel the weakness, his feet did leave the ground. A night or two of rest and it would be good as new.

“How  _ did  _ a cute little garden fairy like you end up with a knight?” The man asked.

Patton almost couldn’t help mumbling “m not a garden fairy,” under his breath before he answered. “We met when he was little.”

The man looked at him curiously. “Then you support his becoming a knight?”

“Oh, yeah, ignore me,” Roman said grumpily. 

Patton wondered if this was a trick question. If he said yes, would the man trap him again? But if he said no, the man might think that Roman was keeping him captive. 

“I think Roman can become a good knight,” Patton said. “They aren’t all good, but I think he can be.”

The man nodded slightly, and then waved his hand in front of his face. The glamour disappeared, showing scales and twisting horns, but a mostly humanish body. “Then let me tell you my story. I’m curious to see what you think a ‘good’ knight would do about it.”

Patton gave a cautious nod, and listened as the  man ,  dragon , shifter told his story. 

He was far older than he looked, at least three centuries, though he said he’d lost track of time somewhere, and was possibly even older than that. He’d lived in the mountain almost his whole life, and considered it his. There was a cave, that he would never tell them the location of, and in that cave he kept his hoard of treasures. Some of the people from the village had found his cave, and thought that because he was a dragon, if they were able to take the treasure, then they were entitled to it. He’d flown down and caught houses on fire until he found his stolen treasure and recovered it, and then torched a few more in retribution. Apparently Patton and Roman were the third people that had been hired to kill him. 

“Um…” Patton said, hoping that he was actually finished and that Patton wasn’t interrupting. “What happened to the others?”

The shifter grinned, showing off fangs. He clicked his tongue and a curl of dense smoke leaked through them. “What do you think?”

Patton’s eyes went wide, and he took a step backwards towards Roman. 

“So?” The shifter asked. “What would a ‘good’ knight do in this situation?”

“I-it’s a pretty complicated situation,” Patton stammered, backing towards Roman. 

The shifter nodded, watching him with an amused smile. 

Patton thought hard. “Probably, he should help the village rebuild, and find some way to make peace between the village and the dragon.”

The shifter nodded again. “You think deeply, for a garden fairy.” 

Patton suppressed the instinctual frown. He nodded politely. 

“Do you think you could get your knight to attempt this plan?”

“I could try,” Patton said hopefully. 

The shifter raised an eyebrow, nodding. “Then I will allow you to try.”

He stood up, and grew, larger and larger, and his scales spread over his body, until he was a full dragon. He took off, and flew away towards the mountain. 

Patton flew up to the branch the rope was tied to, and pulled out his little sword to cut it. He grew things up inside the rope to separate the fibers, and then he could cut them, so it took a while, but finally Roman dropped to the ground with a loud ‘oof’.

  
  



	10. Sneak

Virgil had to be very, very careful. He didn’t mind sneaking around, but what he really hated was going out in the open. Logan was sitting on his shoulder, and that was very comforting and steadying, but he still was rather shaky as he went up to the shopkeeper. It was simple. Bread. That was it. Nothing more. Not suspicious. Just ask for bread, pay for bread, and leave. 

And it went well. 

Until he went outside, and someone screamed. 

“Black magic!”

Virgil froze, and then went invisible, bolting away and into the darkest, shadiest place he could find. Logan very nearly fell off, and just flew to keep up with him, being sure to keep a hand touching him to stay invisible as well. 

Virgil ducked behind an old water barrel in an alley, curling up small.

“-gil, Virgil.” It was more the tug of his name than the voice that made him pay attention to Logan. “There you are. You’re alright. They haven’t chased you. Breathe.”

Virgil took a few jerky breaths before he could breathe smoothly again. “How’d they know?”

Logan sighed. “Well, your clothes may have had a part in it, though they look more like rags than a Shadow Mage’s clothes… Were you holding onto a shadow again?”

Virgil shook his head, and then realized that the pleasant pressure curling up around his legs was probably shadows that he’d been unconsciously calling to comfort him. “Oh.”

Logan patted his forehead gently. “It’s alright. If these people are willing to call you out over something like that, they aren’t the kind of people we want to stay near. We’ll move on.”

Virgil nodded. 

“You know, you could also just get big and scary, and then people’d leave you alone.” A voice suddenly said.

Virgil let out a loud squeak, jumping up onto the barrel. 

“How can you see us!?” Logan yelled.

From further in the alley, a very dirty boy grinned, showing off gapped teeth. “I’m immune to magic.”

“I-Immune?” Logan repeated. “That isn’t possible.”

“Yeah it is! My name’s Remus, try and get me to behave!”

Logan frowned. “Uh... come over here, Remus.”

Remus just grinned. “See? Nobody can make me do anything!”

“Can you not tell people that you saw us here? Please?” Virgil asked.

Remus shrugged. “If I can see more of your magic. Is it really Black Magic?”

Virgil got down off the barrel, shaking his head. 

“Awww…. Well, if you want it to be a secret, you should probably not do it here, but I’m coming with you so I don’t miss it!”


	11. Soft

Virgil went out to the woods beyond the town. He was tired of traveling. Even if it just lasted a short time again, he’d rather just build another hut. Maybe he could try to find a plant fairy, and find some way to pay them to shore up his house like Patton had.

Remus was still following them, intent on seeing Virgil’s power. 

Finally Virgil stopped and sat down on a stone. “You still want to see?”

Remus bounced up and down, grinning. “Yeah!”

Well, Virgil couldn’t say the kid wasn’t cute. He gave him a small smile back. He decided on using the shadow of a tree nearby. Tree shadows were large, and tended to be calmer than many others. He coaxed it to him, wrapping it up into a little ball. 

“Be gentle,” he cautioned, handing it to Remus. 

Remus’s eyes were wide with awe. “It’s so soft!” He rolled the ball from hand to hand, and it started unraveling. 

That was strange, usually they had no problem staying in a different form for quite a long time. Perhaps it had to do with his immunity. 

Soon the shadow had leaked between Remus’s fingers and flowed back to its tree. 

Remus looked back up at Virgil. “Can you do another one? I can be gentle, did you see? I was gentle.”

Virgil ruffled up his hair. “Sure. You did good being gentle.”

The kid practically vibrated with happiness, flinging his arms around and jumping until Virgil had the shadow ready.

Virgil made several more shadows into little shapes for Remus to play with, and finally sent him home before the sun set. 

“You’ve fed a puppy,” Logan commented drily. “He’ll be back tomorrow.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Not now, you don’t. What about later, when the town sends someone after you? Or when we have to leave? You can’t drag him through that.”

Virgil frowned. “I can’t… but… Logan, I don’t want to just push him away! You know, you didn’t push me away, when you could’ve once you had my name.”

Logan frowned too. “That’s different,” he said, but his tone made it clear that he understood exactly how similar it was. 

  * •^*^••



Remus sat in his little nest, happy that the stars were out. They made shadows cover him up, and Remus grabbed at the shadows, hoping to feel again the warm softness. He wondered if Virgil had somewhere as comfy as his nest, or if his was maybe more comfortable. But he didn’t have nest-making things. He could just be sleeping on the ground. 

Well, Remus was not going to let that happen. He could share his nest. He got up, and rolled up the blankets, tying them into rolls and tying the rolls together and picking up the whole bundle. He was pretty sure he could find his way back to where he’d last seen Virgil, and hopefully Virgil was still there. 

It was harder than he would have thought, though, and when he finally found the spot, Virgil wasn’t there at all. Remus threw down the blankets. It wasn’t fair. This  _ always  _ happened! Every time he tried to be nice something bad happened. He really was bad luck. 

Remus coiled the blankets around him, not bothering to make a proper nest. He’d just take them back tomorrow anyway. He sulked into the blankets, and ended up going to sleep angry. 

  * •^*^••



When Virgil found Remus the next morning, and heard his story, he sent Logan a look that they both knew meant ‘I’m adopting and no one can stop me’ and Logan had much the same look to send right back. 

  
  



	12. Curiosity

Logan suddenly was hit with a burst of curiosity. He started kicking up a little breeze, blowing Virgil’s hood right off his head. Virgil sent him a fondly exasperated look, rolling his eyes. 

Logan sent the breeze towards Remus, but once it ran over him it started wandering away and dispersing, not listening to him anymore. 

Logan glided forward and landed on Remus’s head. “Virge, can you take his shadow away from him?”

Virgil cocked his head to the side a bit, and made a coaxing gesture towards Remus. Remus stepped forward, but his shadow didn’t react at all. 

“I guess not,” Virgil said with a shrug. 

“Can you take your own shadow?” Remus asked. 

Virgil held out his hand, and his shadow sprang into it immediately, condensed into a small humanoid form. “Yeah. My shadow likes me though, and won’t stay away from me for long.”

“That’s so cool!” Remus said, his voice awed. 

“Remus…” Virgil started, glancing up at Logan. “I have something important—“

Remus suddenly, and very loudly, interrupted. “Can I hold your shadow?”

Virgil handed him the shadow. “I had a question—“

“Oh, look, it’s going back now!”

“Remus…”

Remus suddenly plopped to the ground, knocking Logan off of his perch. When Logan got his bearings, he saw Remus glaring at the dirt, and, even more unexpectedly, tears in his eyes. 

“I  _ know _ ,” he said bitterly. “I’m bad luck and you don’t want me to stay around cause I’ll make things bad.” 

“Remus, no—“

Remus glared up at Virgil, his lip trembling but his face set angrily. “No matter how nice you try to say it that’s what you mean!”

“I don’t, Remus, please—“ 

Remus got up and ran, choked sobs escaping him. 

“Wait, Remus!” Virgil looked to Logan helplessly. 

Logan started after Remus immediately, and soon Virgil was running after them both. 

Virgil tackled Remus to the ground, like the idiot Logan had always known he was. 

“Let me go!” Remus shrieked, kicking wildly. 

“Let me finish!” Virgil yelled right back. “I wanted you to come with me you dumb kid!”

Logan winced at the phrasing, especially since he knew exactly where Virgil had learned it. It certainly hadn’t been his mother’s influence. But it worked. Remus stilled. 

“You want me… to come with you?”

“I do!” Virgil said, still nearly yelling. “I know this has been your home all your life, but you didn’t seem happy and I wanted to take you with me when I leave.”

Remus clung to Virgil's shirt and started wailing. 

Virgil suddenly looked entirely lost again, searching Logan out. Logan flew down to land on his shoulder. 

“I believe this would be a yes.”

  
  



	13. Narrow

Trying to negotiate peace between the dragon shifter and the town had been like trying to walk on a narrow pole in midwinter, with snow flying so thickly you could barely see your own feet, and wind threatening to blow you off at the slightest chance. But, maybe, just maybe, they’d done it. Or maybe not peace, but truce. And that was probably all that could reasonably be hoped for. 

Roman flopped onto the bed facedown and let out a long groan. 

Patton flew down to land on his head and give it a few soft pats. 

“I’m proud of you, kiddo. You’re doing great.”

Roman groaned again, rolling over. “All your proud of me and wanting me to be the best knight has made my life really hard, you know that?” He ruffled up Patton’s hair with a finger. 

Patton giggled and held onto the finger in a hug. “But you’re doing it. You’re trying so hard even though it’s not easy, and that makes me the most proud.”

Roman smiled and yawned. “After we’re done here, I’m taking a vacation for at least a week.”

“You’d deserve it, kiddo.” Patton flew down and tugged on the blanket, trying to pull it up over Roman. 

Roman let out a tired version of his boisterous laugh. “I haven’t even taken my boots off yet. Wanna just cuddle with me instead?”

Patton gave an enthusiastic nod, flying up to tuck himself under Roman’s chin. 

Suddenly there was a commotion outside, and someone banged on the door. “Sir Roman!”

Roman let out another groan. “Coming!”

They went out to find many of the townspeople crowding around a clot of shadows. There was a lot of screaming and angry yelling. 

There was a furious wrestling pile in the middle.

“Hey! Break it up!” Roman yelled, charging right into the middle. 

Slowly the townspeople started backing away, other than the ones wrestling, which Roman started pulling away. 

And then, “You! What’s your name… Pat, help me.”

“Virgil! Stop!” Patton said. 

Quickly the wrestling pile turned into a dog pile on Virgil as he stopped moving. Roman just kept pulling people off, but there were quite a few of them. 

And then suddenly a child’s hand closed over Patton, squeezing painfully. “Let Virgil go!”

Virgil, who by all rights should not have been able to move, somehow got up and grabbed the child’s arm, pain written all over his face. 

“Remus. No.”

Patton wheezed, struggling to breathe.

The child dropped Patton, and Virgil let out a pained sigh, dropping to the ground. 

Roman carefully scooped Patton up. “Are you ok?!”

Patton gave him a weak thumbs up. 

“Let Virgil go!” The child insisted, pushing at Roman. 

Patton wasn’t sure if Virgil would still be in pain from pushing so hard against the name magic. He hadn’t even known it was possible to push back that hard! But just in case, he mumbled, “Virgil, you’re released.”

Virgil let out another painful sounding breath. 

“Wait, didn’t you have a fairy with you?” Roman asked. 

  
  



	14. Rescue

Well, it turned out that Remus’s ‘bad luck’ wasn’t entirely a lie. 

Virgil was trying to be fast. He’d heard of ‘Sir Roman’ and was just praying that it was the same one. Gathering up the shadows beneath him, and using them to propel himself forward, he could move much, much faster than he ever could walking, or even running. Unfortunately, while he was carrying Remus, the shadows that left scattered wildly, instead of just calmly heading back to their objects. And this meant that he looked like a massive prickly ball of black magic, flashing darkness as he tore across the country. 

He finally stopped at the town, and the shadows fled, some still retaining their semi-solid form. He cringed as he heard several thumps and the shatter of glass. 

It was far worse, however, when people started screaming and charging at him. 

  * •^*^••



It was only after they were all inside, and away from the rest of the town, that the story came spilling out. 

“We were trying to make a home in the port city, because I’d heard they were more tolerant. He got caught in a fairy trap. I tried to rescue him, but we just got kicked out of the city. They’re going to try to sell him, and I can’t get in, and I don’t have any money. I-I know you hate me, probably even more now, but you have a fairy with you too, and…” Virgil got all choked up. 

“Please. I’ll find some way to pay you back. I don’t care what you want, I’ll give it, I’ll do it. Please help me get him back.”

Virgil’s head was ducked down, a subtle tremor in his shoulders and a not so subtle tremor in his voice. He was… so broken-sounding. There was absolutely no way Roman could say no, even without Patton’s very, very clear heartbreak for Virgil. 

He sighed. So much for that vacation. “Yeah, I’ll get your fairy back.”

Virgil’s head came back up, his eyes wide and shining from unshed tears. He nodded, all too clearly trying not to cry. “Thank you.”

The kid next to him was still glaring at Roman, but also mumbled out a “thanks.”

  * •^*^••



“Patton, I’m truly sorry that Remus hurt you,” Virgil said. 

“I’ll be alright, kiddo,” Patton said cheerily, trying to straighten out his wings. He’d have some bruises, but really it wasn’t that bad. And he couldn’t be mad at the poor kid for trying to help his friend. Patton would’ve done the same. “How about you? That was some pretty impressive willpower back there.”

Virgil ducked his head trying to hide the blush. “I’m kinda used to it.”

Patton frowned. “Why? What did your fairy do to you?”

Virgil shrugged. “He’s just trying to keep me safe. We disagree pretty strongly sometimes.”

Well, it didn’t seem very nice. “What about Remus?”

“He’s immune.” Virgil chuckled fondly. “No one can tame that rascal.”

“It looks like you did.”

Virgil waved his hands around. “No, he just likes me. I can’t make him do anything he doesn’t want to.”

Patton chuckled. “That sounds like me and Roman.”

  * •^*^••



Logan glared at every one of the passers-by. He would make himself as unpleasant as he could, to give Virgil more time to get back to him. Or… or maybe he’d just leave. No. No, Virgil would never do that. It’d only been a few days. 

And then Logan recognized someone. There was a brief flash of relief before he remembered where he recognized him from, and ducked back into the shadowy back of the cage. But it was too late. The knight had seen him. 

He came straight up to the cage, and picked it up. 

“Unhand me!” Logan demanded, only to be ignored. 

No matter what he said, he was ignored and talked over by all the humans, until a price had been reached and he was carried out of the shop. And then he was still ignored all the way out of the city. 

Once Roman got up on his horse, he finally properly looked at Logan. “Sorry about that. I was worried they might try and make me pay more than I had if they knew I knew you.”

Logan sneered. “Of course, because you care about me,” he said caustically. 

Roman got an annoyed little frown. “Well it’s not like I hate you. Virgil sent me to rescue you, you could at least be nice.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Roman sighed. 

  
  



	15. Hang

Virgil was watching Remus, who was hanging upside down from a tree just outside Roman’s house. Virgil himself wasn’t really allowed out. No one was keeping him in, but to keep the peace, and for Patton’s peace of mind, he was staying inside. 

Until he caught the sight of Roman’s horse in the distance, and the slightest thrill of magic ran down his spine. It was Logan, Logan was there, and had called his name, and Virgil didn’t think for a second about the rules, rushing out of the house and sprinting towards Roman. 

Halfway there there was a tiny thump against his chest. Logan had flown just as fast as Virgil had been running, and they’d almost run right past each other. 

Virgil made them invisible and then dropped to the ground, holding Logan tight against him and pouring out all the intense worry he’d had in a sudden downpouring of tears. 

“Logan, I was so scared for you! And I couldn’t get to you! And I know it wasn’t your fault, but you can’t leave me like that again!”

To Virgil's surprise, Logan let out a sob, clinging tighter to him. Logan never cried. And he certainly wasn’t clingy. 

“Are you ok?” Virgil asked, pulling him away just long enough to scan his body and be sure he wasn’t hurt. 

Logan just shook his head, for once in a long while not saying anything in response. Virgil hugged him close again, more careful of his wings this time, and neither of them moved until they were done crying. 

“I thought…” Logan finally said, his voice hoarse. “I thought, when you couldn’t get me back and you left, I thought you might not be coming back. I-I didn’t believe Roman, either. I shouldn’t have doubted you, Virgil, I’m sorry.”

Virgil hugged him probably too tightly. “It’s alright. You were scared. And… you weren’t the only one that did dumb things.”

Logan’s head popped up, his familiar ‘what have you managed to do now?!’ concern written all over his face. “What happened?”

So Virgil told him about how they’d entered the town, and about the deal he’d made with Roman. 

Logan fumed. “I  _ knew  _ he didn’t do it out of some kind of charity!”

“It’ll be alright,” Virgil promised, bringing up his crooked smile. “I don’t think he’d want to kill me anymore. And Patton kind of likes me, so… it can’t be too bad.”

Logan still frowned. He flew up directly in front of Virgil’s face to smack his forehead. “How many times do I have to tell you? You are worth more than this! You trade away yourself way too easily.”

Virgil smiled, the rebuke very familiar. “You’ll help me get through it though.”

“Of course I will! But you have to stop making deals like this!” 

“Does this mean you’re all done crying now?” Remus asked bluntly, making them both turn to see him sitting nearby. 

Virgil snorted, and then fell into laughter, dropping his invisibility and grabbing Remus into the group hug. 


	16. Sacrifice

Virgil tried to avoid Roman the rest of the day. He talked with Logan more about the deal, but Logan didn’t know a way out of it. He’d promised to pay Roman back however he wanted, and he’d be bound to it.

It’d be better to just ask sooner than later. Whatever it was. He’d been prepared to sacrifice anything to get Logan back safely, and now he had to do it. 

Maybe though… It would be cheating, but at this point he could use just a little bit of a leg up, and he’d take a not quite so fair method. He explained it to Logan, who agreed much more quickly than he would have guessed, and even offered to watch Remus and let Virgil have some time to enact the plan. 

So he snuck out, carefully, making sure he wasn’t seen by anyone, and slipped out to the woods. He knew well at this point what fairies liked, as Logan had forced him through several ‘tea parties’, that neither of them enjoyed, to teach him. 

He found a very small flower, newly open, and set a shadow to guard it. Honey took longer to find, but he did eventually find it, and coaxed out a small bit from the center of the hive, using shadows to carry it so he wouldn’t taint it in any way. He took it back to the flower and set it inside, filling the tiny cup. Only then did he sever the stem and hurry back. 

He was very lucky, just for once, and Patton was by himself out in the yard. 

“Hi,” Virgil said, making sure to be quiet and far enough away that he wouldn’t startle Patton. “I um… I brought you a gift. It’s free.”

Patton’s face was soft and excited right away. “You did? What is it?”

Virgil guided the shadows very carefully, so it wouldn’t seem like he was trying to trap Patton with them again, and had them set the flower on a leaf beside Patton.

“Ohhh… Oh, this is so sweet of you! Thank you!”

Virgil got a little smile as Patton beamed at him. “I’m glad you like it. Um… I also had a request.”

“Oh? What?” Patton asked, his mouth already full.

“Well, I need to have a conversation with Roman, and I was wondering… well, if you could maybe talk to him? And make him not be mad at me?”

Patton frowned slightly. “Why would he be mad at you?”

Virgil was caught off guard by that one, and spoke quickly. “I didn’t do anything, if that’s what you mean! Really, I haven’t. He’s just, he hates me anyway.”

“Oh, he doesn’t hate you, kiddo. Maybe he sort of did for a while, but he doesn’t anymore.”

That should’ve been relieving, but Virgil couldn’t quite believe it. “You’re sure?”

“Of course!” Patton took another big bite. “And look how sweet you are, bringing me presents. No one hates a nice person.”

That was…  **_Not_ ** true in many cases, but Virgil was willing to accept Patton’s judgement.


	17. Chimes

The villagers definitely didn’t respect him anymore. A ‘dragon sighting’, which shouldn’t even be a problem in itself, turned into Roman doing random chores and climbing a tree to rehang some fallen windchimes.

And then suddenly Virgil stepped out from somewhere where there had  _ not  _ been anyone before, making Roman jump and suppress a shocked scream. But it clearly hadn’t been for a joke, as Virgil looked almost deathly serious. 

“Can I talk with you?”

Roman frowned. “Yeah, sure. What about?”

Virgil just fidgeted awkwardly, staring at the ground. “Can we talk… somewhere more private?”

Well now that was a bit concerning. Did this have something to do with Patton going on and on about how Virgil had given him a present? It had  _ better  _ not have been secretly poison or something! “Yeah, I guess. Let's head back to the house.”

Roman shut the door, and shadows twined around Virgil’s legs almost immediately. He didn’t put his hand  _ on  _ his sword hilt, but he was close. This whole thing was getting to be too suspicious. 

“I… um… you remember the deal I made with you when you said you’d help get Logan back?”

Roman shook his head. “What deal?”

Virgil looked up at him, his face twisted as if he thought Roman was making a particularly cruel joke at his expense. His jaw clenched and he looked away again, more and more shadows crawling up his legs and starting to settle onto his arms, seeming almost heavy. 

“I agreed that I’d do or give anything you asked for if you got Logan back,” Virgil said quietly. “I just wanted to know what it was.”

Oh. Well, that might well explain his fidgety energy. 

But now he wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t really need anything, not from Virgil. But at the same time… and especially the more he thought about it… and he was  _ positive  _ that Patton would agree. 

“You know… I’ve been trying to be a knight for a long time, but I’ve never quite done something big enough to get attention from the king.”

Virgil paled and nodded, the shadows deepening even more. They had clustered so firmly around him that the rest of the room was decently brighter, all the darkness wrapped in one anxious bundle.

“And I think… I think I might quit. There’s a lot that knights do, or that they overlook, and it doesn’t sit right with me anymore.”

Virgil nodded, a slight confused frown growing on his face. 

“What I’m saying is, there  _ are  _ monsters, and then there  _ aren’t.  _ And I’m not good at telling them apart quite yet. Not to mention they don’t trust me at all. So would you three join me and Patton? Help balance us out?”

Virgil’s eyes went wide. “That’s… really? That’s all you want?”

Roman grinned and crossed his arms. “Well, you’d have to agree to let us help take care of you some. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without actual rags for clothes.”

Virgil’s mouth dropped open and his eyes got shiny. “Why?”

Roman shrugged. “It feels good to do nice things. And if you really do balance us out, all together, us five could be a force of nature kind of powerful!”

Virgil snorted. “Or Remus could short all of us out.”


	18. Pickle

Roman was just about ready. He considered taking Patton with him, but Patton was currently busy with Remus.

“Oh, come on, just one taste? Pickles are the best!”

“I don’t know, kiddo, it doesn’t smell like something I’d like…”

Roman grinned, and then slipped out. He was halfway to the dragon’s cave before he realized that the insistent being-watched feeling might really be true.

“Virgil?”

No answer.

“Virgil, why are you following me?”

He really hoped Virgil  _ was  _ actually following him, or else this was going to get very awkward very quickly. 

Virgil slipped out from behind a tree, looking more than a little bashful. “Sorry, I just wanted to see what you were doing.”

Roman shook his head, letting out a small chuckle. “Well, I was going to ask the dragon to please behave himself so that we could move on.”

Virgil nodded slightly. “Oh. Wait, there’s a dragon up here?”

Roman beckoned him to walk with him, and turned to keep going. “Yeah. I would’ve thought you knew that already. Aren’t you in tune with dark magic?”

Virgil shook his head firmly. “I’m not, and neither are dragons.”

“Then what  _ are  _ you?”

Virgil shrugged. “Logan says I’m a shadow mage, whatever that’s supposed to be. But basically just shadows.” 

“So then… ha, you have me questioning so much of what I know. What exactly  _ is  _ dark magic?”

Virgil’s face scrunched up. “It’s like… well, you know the people with normal magic just coax, really, not so much control. Dark magic is controlling and forcing.”

“How do you even do that?”

Virgil shrugged, “I never wanted to try.” 

Suddenly the dragon shifter stepped out from behind a tree. “Virgil?”

Virgil’s eyes went wide, and he ran forward and hugged him. “Dee!”

“Wait, you know him??” Roman asked. “How do you know him?”

“I was sorta sacrificed to him once,” Virgil explained. “It was… years and years ago, I’m so happy to see you!”

The dragon shifter, Dee, apparently, smiled down at Virgil with the softest expression Roman had seen by far. “I’m glad to see you too. How did you end up with Roman?”

Virgil looked rather embarrassed. “Well, first he was going to kill me, and then I made a deal to get away. And then my fairy was captured, and I made another deal for Roman to help me get him back. And now we’re… teammates?”

Roman nodded quickly, which turned Dee’s glare towards him into the more familiar vague annoyance. “And we came to ask if you would try to get along with the villagers, cause we’re leaving soon.” 

Dee’s grip on Virgil shifted to be almost possessive. “You’re taking him where?”

Roman very hesitantly shrugged. “Just… moving on. More people to help? More places to see?”

Dee’s eyes narrowed, and then his expression became very confident and smug. “Fine. I’ll ‘behave’. But you have to tell me whenever you intend to move again, and I get to visit whenever I want.”

Roman sighed, he’d never be free of tag-alongs ever again, would he? Though, was that such a bad thing? “Deal.”

Dee grinned, for the first time an expression of genuine happiness. “And I’m keeping Virgil until you leave.”

“No, hey, wait. Logan’s still down there. And I also picked up a kid named Remus. Why don’t you come down with us?” Virgil said, turning puppy eyes up at Dee. 

Dee melted immediately, though he was clearly trying to look like he hadn’t. “Picked up a kid? You’re  _ far  _ too young to be a father.” He started walking down the mountain, Virgil tucked against his side, and leaving Roman behind. 

It suddenly hit Roman that this was going to become his new normal. People either loved or    
hated Virgil almost instantly, and Virgil just ran with it, not knowing how to change their opinion. And now Roman was going to have to help oversee that, and direct it in safe ways. Life was going to become very strange. And exciting. And for the first time, Roman was solidly sure that he was doing the right thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well! This is the end! It’s a pretty open ending, since I figured I might want to come back to it someday, but it’s pretty good for an open ending.
> 
> Janus’s name, btw, is not actually Dee. Even with Virgil, he’s more cautious than giving away his real name.


End file.
